


perfect now

by harryisqueen



Series: walls [4]
Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Body Shaming, Bullying, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Insecure El, Insecurity, School Dances, Song: Perfect Now (Louis Tomlinson)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-21
Updated: 2020-09-21
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:55:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,736
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26586982
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/harryisqueen/pseuds/harryisqueen
Summary: 'Cause everybody's lookin' at you now, my, oh myI guess some queens don't need a crownAnd I know whyEven when your tears are fallin' downStill, somehow, you're perfect nowor Stacey ruins prom for El but Mike somehow makes it all better
Relationships: Eleven | Jane Hopper/Mike Wheeler, Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Series: walls [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1926490
Comments: 2
Kudos: 18





	perfect now

**Author's Note:**

> Figured I should put this at the very beginning; STREAM WALLS BY LOUIS TOMLINSON (And his singles ;))

_You say to me your jeans don't fit_

_You don't feel pretty and it's hard to miss_

_I wish that you could see my point of view_

_As someone starin' back at you_

There was something up with El.

She hadn’t come out and said it but Mike could just tell.

She hadn’t said much to him since he asked her to prom and he had plans to get to the bottom of what was wrong.

Mike watched her cross the school parking lot before she reaches his car opens the door and silently climbs in like she had the past week.

Normally when she got in his car for them to head home she was chatty and ready to talk about anything and everything that happened in her day and Mike was more than willing to listen to everything she had to say.

“Are you alright?” He asked.

Starting simple.

“I’m fine.”

El's cheek was resting against the passenger window and he could almost tell for certain that there was something wrong.

6 years together and he was pretty much an expert on reading her emotions so it was time to take another stab and get her to tell him what was wrong.

“Friends don’t lie.”

“It’s nothing important, Mike.” El huffed.

“It’s important to me.”

“It’s seriously not a big deal it’s just Stacey running her mouth again.”

“About what exactly?”

"It's not your business."

Mike narrowed his eyes at her attitude.

"It's a big deal if it's affecting you."

He heard El sigh from the passenger seat and when he glanced over she had turned so she was facing him.

“She told me I was going need to lose quite a bit of weight and wear quite a bit of makeup if I wanted to look good for you at prom.”

Okay, what the hell.

Mike gripped the steering wheel tightly to keep his admitted short temper in check.

“You don’t need to lose any weight and you certainly don’t need to look good for me even though you always look beautiful.”

Mike was well aware he wasn’t exactly the best at comforting with words but he could damn well try his best.

“It seriously is not that big of a deal I just told you because you asked and weren't going to give up until I told you. It didn't even phase me beyond being shocked that she would say that to someone.”

Mike sighed and decided to drop it.

El might be the most precious thing in his life but goddamn was she stubborn when it came to admitting something hurt her.

_On Friday night when we're all out_

_I turn to you and you're looking down_

_And you don't wanna dance_

_I know you love to dance_

_You never stop given half the chance._

Prom had finally rolled around and El looked stunning.

He didn’t want to sound corny but El genuinely always looked good but she looked exceptionally good tonight.

However, the dance was halfway over with and El was yet to accept his multiple offers to go and dance.

Normally it was one of her favourite things to do and she was the one begging Mike to dance with her but tonight the roles were somehow reversed.

“C’mon El even Lucas and Max are dancing and you know how annoying and stubborn those two are about any PDA.”

Mike watched as El swallowed and continued to stare at her drink in front of her.

_Keep your head up, love, keep your head up_

_Don't look away, don't look away._

“Is this about what Stacey said to you last week?” he hesitantly asked.

“No, I already told you that didn’t bother me.”

“Somehow I don’t believe you.”

That got her attention and she looked up to glare at Mike before standing up and stomping off.

Great.

_You never do, but if you asked me to_ _  
I'll tell the truth lyin' next to you_

The two of them were no strangers to bickering but this felt ridiculous he had searched pretty much the entire high school once El had stormed off but she was nowhere to be found.

He finally found her though leaning against his car.

Why hadn’t he thought to look there first?

“Can we go, Mike? I wasn’t having much fun anyways.” El asked as soon as she spotted him.

He nodded and unlocked the doors for her.

She started to climb into the car but before she could he gently grabbed her wrist and pulled her to him in a tight hug.

“I know you don’t feel like telling me what’s wrong right now but I love you and if it is what Stacey said you seriously are fine and she’s wrong.”

He was fairly sure that wasn't very reassuring but he was trying his best.

_'Cause you're the only one when it's said and done_ _  
You make me feel like being someone good to you._

After prom night Mike tried to keep things going as they usually did but it was hard knowing that something was bothering his girlfriend and there was nothing he could do to help her and she wouldn’t even tell him exactly what was wrong.

There had to be something he could do to make her feel better so that’s how he found himself at Max’s house trying to figure out a way to help her.

Max might irritate him at times but who better to ask for advice than his girlfriends’ best friend.

“Stacey said what?”

Mike winced at the shrillness of Max’s tone.

“Don’t worry about that right now what I’m trying to do is make her feel better because it hurt her she just doesn’t want to admit it. At least not to me.”

“Or me because this is the first I’ve heard of it.” Max scoffed.

“Whatever. I'm not here to talk about that what I want to know is what I should I do to make her feel better? It’s like for the first time in years I can’t get through to her. Not to mention I feel awful that she didn’t even get to enjoy prom.”

Max seemed to think for a moment before her face lit up.

“We should throw our own prom in your basement. This way not only will El get to experience a school dance without judgement but so will everyone else. I mean none of us care for school social gatherings in general.”

Well damn apparently coming to Max was the best idea he’d had in a while.

_Even at your worst, you steal the scene and it's unrehearsed_

“C’mon El it’ll be much better than the actual school prom.”

El had started to cheer up more recently but it was like as soon as Mike mentioned prom again her face was in a permanent scowl.

The two of them were doing their homework and maybe right now was not the best moments to mention it knowing how annoyed math homework can make her but like they say there’s no time like the present.

“Why Mike? We already went to prom and I don’t think either one of us enjoyed ourselves.”

“That’s the whole point of having a whole sperate one! We get to enjoy ourselves this time around.”

When El was silent for what he felt was too long he continued.

“Please? If you hate it I’ll kick everyone out and we can just watch a movie or something.”

“Okay fine.” She relented

“Thank you! Don’t forget to wear your dress.”

With that, Mike leaned forward and gave El a quick peck before returning to his homework.

_Every insecurity, like a neon sign, as bright as day_

_If you knew what you were to me_

_You would never try to hideaway_

The “basement” prom had actually been going well and El seemed to be having a better time than she did at their school’s prom but he could still sense a hesitancy.

So he was going to do something about it for hopefully the last time.

“Hey, can I talk to you for a sec?” Mike murmured into her hair from behind her.

She nodded in a silent agreement and the two of them walked off to the bathroom.

“If y’all are gonna go makeout could you do it somewhere further away?” Dustin snickered.

Mike simply gave him the finger before closing the bathroom door.

“Are you okay?” He asked

“I’m fine Mike. It was very sweet of you to do this.”

“No really are you okay? Because you still seem so distant and I don’t wanna pry because I know eventually you’ll tell me what’s wrong but I’ve been worried about you. You’ve seemed so down lately and it makes me sad to see you sad.”

“I’m fine Mike. I wanted to talk to you about it but I needed to get out of my head first. I should’ve talked to you about this sooner so you didn’t spend so much time worrying about me.”

El’s eyebrows were furrowed and she looked guilty and shit that was not Mike’s intention.

“Don’t feel bad about that! I’m your boyfriend my job is pretty much to worry about you.” El didn’t look impressed at that so he quickly diverted the topic. “Anyways you would tell me if you weren’t doing okay right?”

“Of course, I would Mike. Friends don’t lie.”

She was smirking and with that, the serious atmosphere was lifted and Mike felt like he could exhale.

He couldn’t help himself so he leaned forward and drew her into a gentle kiss his hand cupping the back of her neck.

The kiss didn’t last long because not long after someone was banging on the door.

“Hey, love birds hurry up and get back out to the party.”

“Alright, asshole just give us a sec,” Mike said with an eye roll.

He turned back towards El and leaned forward to give her a quick kiss above her eyebrow.

“Well on that note would you like to go back out there and dance with me?”

“I’d be honoured, Michael.” She replied with a smirk.

“Don’t call me Michael.” He groaned as he followed her out of the bathroom.

_'Cause everybody's lookin' at you now, my, oh my_ _  
I guess some queens don't need a crown  
And I know why  
Even when your tears are fallin' down  
Still, somehow, you're perfect now_

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed!!! (If you did hit the kudos button! ;) )
> 
> I only have 1 other ST fic posted for this series (so far ;) ) but there will be more coming! In the meantime, if you enjoy Riverdale or Sanders Sides I have one of each in the series so far that you could read!
> 
> Anyways!
> 
> [My tumblr](http://www.harryisqu33n.tumblr.com)


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